中国文学英译絮谈

沙枫

“桃花乱落如红雨”英译

“桃花乱落如红雨”，这是唐朝李贺的诗句，出自《将进酒》，全诗歌如下：

琉璃锺，琥珀浓，小槽酒滴真珠红。
烹龙炮凤玉脂泣，罗纬绣幕围香风。
吹龙笛，击鼍鼓，皓齿歌，细腰舞。
况是青春日将暮，桃花乱落如红雨。
劝君终日酩酊醉，酒不到刘伶坟上土。

此诗有 Frodsham，Graham，吴经熊等人的英译。

先介绍 Frodsham 之英译：

In Opaque, glass goblets
A viscous amber.
From a little vat the wine drips down
True pearls of red.
From boiling dragons and roasting phoenix
Jade fat is weeping,
Gauzy screen, embroidered curtains,
Enclose these perfumed airs.
Blow dragon flutes!
Beat alligator drums!
Dazzling teeth in song,
Slender waists in dance.
Especially now when green spring days
Are turning to dusk,
With peach-petals falling wildly
Like pink showers,
I beg you now to stay quite drunk
To the end of your days,
For on the earth of Liu Ling's grave
No one pours wine.

吴经熊的英译如下：

Glazed goblets
Of rich-colored ambers
From the little trough
Wine flows in drops
Like dainty crimson pearls.
Dragons are cooked,
Phoenixes roasted.
Their grease and fat, jade-white,
Weep tears clean and bright.
Let's blow the dragon-flute!
Let's beat the iguana-drum!
Let the pearly teeth sing!
Let the slender waists dance!
Don't you see green spring is near its sunset,
And peach-blossoms are falling like a shower of red rain?
Let's drink for a whole day!
Wine does not go down to the grave of Liu Ling.

Graham 的英译如下：

A glass goblet
Deep-tinted amber.
Crimson pearls drip from the wine-cask,
Boiling dragons and roasting phoenix weep jades of fat.
Silken screens and embroidered curtains close in the scented breeze.
Blow the dragon flute,
Beat the lizard-skin drum,
white teeth sing,
Slender waists dance.
More than ever now, as the green spring nears its evening.
And peach flowers scatter like crimson rain!
Be advised by me, stay drunken all your life,
Wine does not reach the earth on Liu Ling's grave.

原诗十三句，Frodsham 译成二十行，吴经熊译成十七行，Graham 译成十三行。最后一种译法译得最精简，也最贴切原文。

“青春”两字，三人均译作“green spring”。“红雨”两字，一人译作“pink showers”，一人译作“a shower of red rain”，一人译作“crimson rain”，三人译法各不相同。